London Live: meet Gavin Ramjaun — our anchor with attitude

The London Live presenter has worked with stars like Christine Bleakley and Ant and Dec. He can’t wait for his next challenge, says Stefano Hatfield

Tuesday 11 March 2014 14:37 BST

Good luck to Gavin Ramjaun’s producers at London Live. Their new presenter is excitable, garrulous and hard to halt mid-flow.

On-air, however, he knows the ropes. The most experienced of London Live’s presenter line-up, Ramjaun, 32, has worked everywhere from BBC Newsround to Daybreak. His energy and humour brought him to the attention of London Live’s head of news, Vikki Cook. He is the fresh face you may feel you have seen before but can’t place.

“I really wanted to be part of a new news team that’s doing something that’s never been done before,” Ramjaun says. “The energy and drive of the team is fantastic. Everyone’s pulling in the same direction. It’s an amazing opportunity to grab a piece of an audience that’s under-served.

“Young people will watch because we’re not serving up the same old, same old,” he adds. “We won’t be preachy but engaging and approachable, with lots of opportunities to interact.”

What I learned from Ant and Dec

Ramjaun’s first TV break came with Ant and Dec, working as a runner on Saturday Night Takeaway. He made a lot of tea and did every menial task going. Then he found himself out drinking with guests such as Liam Gallagher, Uri Geller and Peter Stringfellow.

“From Ant and Dec you learn that being nice to people gets the best out of guests,” says Ramjaun. “They are exactly how you see them on-screen when they’re off-screen.”

From celebrity researcher on Hell’s Kitchen to the BBC News Channel and ITV Meridian via a postgraduate degree in journalism, Ramjaun landed a presenting job at Newsround. There, on Sportsround, he added sport to his general news experience, working on Champions’ League matches. He also developed a taste for harder news. BBC Breakfast and News Channel followed, and he was one of the youngest-ever presenters at BBC Worldwide.

I survived Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley

In 2010, Ramjaun joined Daybreak for the short-lived but high-profile Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley era. He loved his time there doing consumer stories as a news correspondent as well as anchoring sport. He became the go-to person for “daft packages”.

Ramjaun winces and laughs, recalling some of his finer moments: “I’ve space-hopped the entire Royal Wedding route — funny to start with but it gave me serious back trouble; I did a 50-metre high-wire line with the Moscow State Circus — I’ve never been so scared in all my life. I also wiped out doing live urban surfing with two of the world’s best surfers in Broadgate Circus.”

Having originally wanted to be the next Wolf of Wall Street, Ramjaun says he learned that presenting was the career for him through a combination of volunteering for anything — “but not being too keen so that you are annoying” — and people “like Dermot O’Leary” being good to him as a result.

Study Clare Balding: don’t be a robot

Ramjaun, who more recently has also been presenting in This Morning’s The Hub, and working on documentaries for Tonight, will present a range of programmes on London Live, from sport to news.

Ramjaun recognises that he has had good breaks but is adamant that “once you get a taste for what you want to do, you have to get your hands dirty through whatever work experience you can grab”. He is now a very committed and enthusiastic mentor for The Prince’s Trust.

“Knowledge of your content is key, and also knowing how you want to deliver it too,” he says. “All my past experiences have shaped my character too and you have to put that in your delivery.

“Look at Clare Balding, Ant and Dec, Holly and Phil, Paddy McGuinness — they’re all true to themselves. That was Jake Humphreys’s advice to me: you don’t want to be a robot, even when it’s serious news.”